


something beautiful

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Category: Pushing Daisies
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Hades and Persephone, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, My First Work in This Fandom, Romance, What’s the opposite of a slow burn, but seriously tho kids don’t marry a man you just met that only happens in fanfic, i am merely Anna, its TRUE LOVE, no olive or Emerson in this one sadly, swinging Kristoff's stuff around and shrieking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21535984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: The facts were these: exactly two minutes and thirty-three seconds ago, when Hades, lord of the dead, aka Ned, aka The Pie Maker, shook hands with Persephone, goddess of spring, aka Charlotte, aka Chuck, they had fallen in love.Love at first sight as it were.
Relationships: Charlotte "Chuck" Charles/Ned
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Lord of the Pies

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very old fanfic! I wanted to turn it into a longer fic with the whole pantheon, throw in some plot, and try my hand at a slow burn. It didn’t happen. But I always intended to come back and extend it! That didn’t happen either. But I don’t want to leave it rotting in my old notes forever, SO I’m taking it out and dusting it off for my 200 story milestone on AO3. XD I hope y’all enjoy it at least.

A woman with brown curls and laughing eyes dashed through the trees, flowers popping up in the grass behind her, like the streamers of a kite. Breathless, she ducked behind a tree, muffling her giggling. The hoarse voice of an older woman echoed through the trees, laced with faint amusement and annoyance. A few seconds later, a higher voice joined in, calling for the hiding woman. Normally she wouldn't be hiding from her mother and aunt, Lily and Vivian, but today she, Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles, was sneaking out. Or as these three woman were more commonly known, Demeter, Hestia, and Persephone.

The facts were these: a long time ago, far too long to count, but, the exact date (if one wishes to know about it) is two thousand four hundred and thirty two years, six months, three weeks, nine days, twelve minutes and nineteen seconds ago, the Greek gods, the gods of Olympus, etc. had decided that their names were far too much of a mouthful and out of fashion. Demeter had taken Lily because she quite liked the flower and her daughter, Persephone who’d she'd named Charlotte who'd then named herself Chuck, had made the lily specially for her so she felt like it was required. Hestia took Vivian for no particular reason and stuck by Lily's side because Lily was her sister and where her sister and her daughter lived was home and hearth to her. The various other gods and goddesses had chosen more modern names to call each other as well and that, as they say, is that.

Back in the present day, the voices moved away through the trees and Chuck grinned, running in the opposite direction. Without her aunt and mother, watching and protecting her at every move, Chuck could go anywhere she wanted.

She ended up in an empty field in the mountains, trees edging around the huge clearing. The empty rolling hills of grass and heather was like a blank canvas to a painter. Chuck decided she should like daisies. Chuck had an affinity for daisies and she felt they were her best flower. Maybe because a long time ago she remembered a shy boy a few years older than herself, handing her a flower before darting away.

Chuck flopped down in the field, surrounded by white and golden daisies as she tried to spot shapes in the flurry of clouds overhead. Thank goodness Zeus, well, Maurice, had decided to not storm today and leave the sky clear and blue. She smiled at the bees already pollinating her flowers. She liked bees far too much. She held out a hand and a bee buzzed over, settling on her fingertips. Chuck smiled, "Hello."

She looked up, as amid the smell of flowers and honey, there was something else in the air. Chuck's eyes widened as the bee flew off, "Is that  pie? "

Chuck stood, brushing out the skirt of her white dress.

Yes, there faintly on the wind was the scent of fresh baked bread and cherries and honey. Chuck followed it, leaving her field of bees and daisies behind. Eventually, she pushed through the outskirts of the forest, batting away leaves and branches. She was glad she'd thought of allowing her flower trail to follow her so that she could find her way home if need be.

There carved into the rock was a great dark pit. The smell of baking pie wafted from it like ambrosia and nectar. Chuck looked furtively around, before slowly advancing, barefoot and in her white flower-spattered dress, into the unknown. Unbeknownst to her, this was a carefully concealed passage to the Underworld, one that only gods could enter and one that led directly to Hades's palace.

Chuck was one who had always wanted for adventure, and now walking down a strange dark tunnel, she felt very adventurous. Little clumps of glowing gems dotted the walls, here and there a cluster of rubies and clots of emeralds. As precious jewels and piles of glittering diamonds formed more and more frequently, she realized she must've descended rather deep into the bowels of Olympus. The air was thick with the cloying smell of magic. It almost completely blocked out the sweet smell of pies, which was like a breath of fresh air amid the thick syrupy silk of enchantments. Perhaps the magic was there to let her walk deeper into the earth faster than was possible. Chuck looked around at the veins of silver and gold tracing the rough rocky walls like the lifeblood of a body.

And then she was out of the tunnel and into a great open area. She gasped. The ceiling stretched far above her, rocky crags and sharp juts of rock clawing at the air. But she found herself not standing on sharp rock, but smooth onyx. And now she saw walls, but no roof of this ominous marble and obsidian structure. Chuck walked forward, the silver and gold threads still following, but this time laced through the smoothed stone as if they were patterns.

And that was when she realized, she was in Hades's palace.

Chuck paused mouth opening in horror as she wondered how on earth she'd managed to stumble onto the home of the King of Hell on the first day she'd snuck out of her home. But the insistent scent of delicious pie was still wafting from somewhere. It wouldn't hurt to look for it, would it? As long as she didn't run into Hades himself, she was fine. Of course, there was the problem that she didn't know what Hades looked like. Well, as long as she stayed away from thrones and ominous figures in black and wearing skulls and perhaps a great deal of gold, then she should be fine. Honestly, she didn't know if Hades wore something like that, but the lord of the dead obviously wouldn't get his terrifying reputation for nothing.

The mouthwatering smell was strong now, and Chuck poked her head around the corner. There working in a kitchen, was a tall man rolling out dough. White flour dusted the table, and there in the oven and cooling on the counter were pies. The man had soft brown hair, large eyebrows, a black shirt, and a white stained apron. Oh, Hades' personal chef? He must be good, to serve someone who was quite undoubtedly a cruel master.

Chuck stepped forward cautiously and coughed. The man looked up, gawping in surprise.

She smiled, "Hello, I, um. I smelled your pies. Might I try some?"

His voice was incredulous, "You... You want to taste  _my_ pie?"

Chuck nodded, "I know you're probably busy cooking for Lord Hades and I really didn't mean to find this place, but I could smell your cooking from all the way up there." She gestured at the ceiling vaguely before offering, "They smell really  really delicious."

His eyes had widened with understanding at some point during her halting speech, "Well, I suppose there's no reason for you  _not_ too." He frowned, "Um, which one?"

She pointed at one that looked fresh and very tempting, "That one!"

"Ah," he laughed nervously, "That one is pomegranate. You- you don’t want that one. You’ll- you’ll want something not made with underworld uh, ingredients. Here, how about this one?"

He carved out a slice of a different but still just as tasty looking pie and put it uneasily on the other end of the counter, almost as if he got any closer to her, she might bolt, "You do like cherries, don't you?"

Chuck nodded, "Yes!" And took her first bite.

The flavors exploded upon contact, fresh ripe cherries and sweet juice, warm flaky pie crust, and sweet honey baked into the pie. She moaned, "This is delicious. Holy cow."

The man turned as red as the cherries and he awkwardly stuffed his hands in the pockets of his apron as Chuck hurriedly finished the pie slice.

"Wow!  Wow! You’re really very talented."

His flush deepened as he kicked his feet shyly, "Thank you. I um, I... yeah." His brow furrowed, "How um,  who ... _are_ you?"

"Me? Oh!" She realized in that moment how strange it had to be to have an unfamiliar girl in a flower dress wander into your kitchens in the realm of the dead, “Well, I mean, I’m Chuck. I mean Charlotte. You know, flowers and stuff." She waved a hand.

He cocked his head with puzzlement, and she coughed awkwardly, "You may know me better as uh... Persephone."

His eyes widened a hand going up to shakily run through his hair, "Oh! Flowers and stuff! You came from Olympus! You’re uh..." his brows drew downwards as he tried to remember Demeter's preferred alias, "Lily's daughter."

She brightened, bouncing in place, "Yes! Since we're doing introductions maybe you could tell me your name?" He swallowed nervously as she continued, "Introductions are usually a give and take process you know, I give you my name then I take yours though not really." She hummed thoughtfully, pausing in her delighted verbal meandering, "Actually I think that’s marriage." She shrugged her shoulders, not realizing that the more she talked, eyes joyful and welcoming, lips turned upwards at him, that the more she was casting a metaphorical spell over the pie maker, "Anyway, I can’t just call you The Pie Maker forever. That would get old really fast."

He thrust out a hand suddenly and she jumped. He smiled awkwardly, "Uh, Ned. You can... you can call me Ned?" Her smile was confused but still bright as the sun, "You’re sure about that?"

His right eye twitched, voice strangely high, "Yep. That’s my name."

She took his hand, "Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ned."

In that moment, several things happened at once. They touched, hands clasping, her palm soft and smooth against his warm calloused fingers rough with flour. It might have just been Chuck's excitement at finally going somewhere new, it might have been that fact that this was Ned's first friendly touch in quite a long time, or it might have simply been the fact that the god of death was touching the goddess of life or spring really, but who doesn’t love a pair of opposites?

Still, whatever it was, there was a spark of _something_ there and neither one of them wanted to let go.

The facts were these: Ned, also more commonly known as Hades, was not as his reputation preceded him. Ned led a reclusive lifestyle for reasons as of yet known only to him. A tragic accident involving a few mortals had inevitably scarred him for life and put him off talking to any others for quite a long time. Being the god of death and hiding himself away in the underworld (and being horribly busy with the matters of said underworld) led to rumors being circulated that he was very much not a nice man. There were exactly two people in the whole of Olympus who knew that he wasn’t what everyone thought he was. The number would inevitably become three very soon, but Ned didn’t know that. All Ned knew was that under no circumstances could he tell the brightest most wonderful thing that had walked into his life that he was probably the darkest thing she would ever meet.

The Pie Maker, despite the little voices screaming in the back of his head, didn’t let go instead moving around the counter, "I um... I don’t get to see many, ah,  alive people down here. Would you um, like to stay? For a little bit?"

Chuck found herself not wanting to let go either, perfectly content to see where this adventure was taking her. She smiled softly, "I'd like that Ned."

She paused, "Well, as long as," she lowered her voice, "Hades doesn’t mind me being down here."

Ned's smile looked a little more like plastic and his hand had perhaps grown clammy, "Hades won’t mind. Besides he’s uh.... he’s out right now?"

She bounced, vibrant against the dark around her, "Oh good! I don’t want to bother him."

He grinned, blurting, "You’re not. You’re really not."

They stayed like that, both grinning, cheeks pink, holding each other's hands. They didn’t know why, but they had the strange desire not to let go. So they didn’t.

What both parties were unaware of was this: exactly two minutes and thirty-three seconds ago, when Hades, lord of the dead, aka Ned, aka The Pie Maker, shook hands with Persephone, goddess of spring, aka Charlotte, aka Chuck, they had fallen in love. Love at first sight as it were.

It was the beginning of something beautiful. 


	2. carpet of flowers

Chuck didn’t know how long she’d been down here. She found she didn’t particularly care. Ned had given her a tour of the more pleasant parts of the world, they’d talked for ages of the most inane topics, he’d told her about his absentee father and mother, his two brothers who still didn’t talk to him and the various problems that being a pie maker in the underworld presented. Chuck had talked about her sheltered lifestyle and her two lovely but overprotective caretakers.

It had taken awhile and a lot of breathlessly dashing about as they avoided anyone they came across. Eventually however, Chuck had gotten Ned to unwind. The Pie Maker seemed terribly tense, not that she could blame him, his shoulders hunched, hands carefully clasped behind him as if afraid to touch her lest he scare her. Which was silly, who would ever be scared of Ned?

Chuck lay, now, by an old gnarled poplar tree, arms crossed behind her head, hair spread out in the heather as she looked up at the vast endless ceiling of rock overhead, stalactites and sparkling gemstones occasionally visible through the dark fog, "I didn’t know the underworld could be so pretty."

Ned looked at her, "Yeah. It’s really actually quite beautiful." He wasn’t talking about the realm of the dead.

Chuck noticed him staring and her cheeks heated pleasantly. She rolled onto her side to look at him, flowers popping up around them. She bit her lip absentmindedly, "You know Ned. You’re really cute."

She grinned as his face turned absolutely crimson. She tapped his nose, "You’re even cuter when you do that." He spluttered before blurting as fast as possible, "You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time." Chuck blinked with surprise as he sat up, not quite looking at her. 

Chuck sat up too, relaxing. The fluttering in her heart was something quite foreign and also something she knew was love. It had only been a day, maybe? She didn’t quite know. It felt like ages. Still, probably far too little time for someone to fall in love. Somehow she was though.

Chuck tapped his shoulder and asked, "Ned?" At the same time he turned to face her, looking incredibly guilty, "I have something to tell you."

Chuck paused as did he. He sighed, shifting, "You go first."

Chuck hesitated and then leapt forward, pressing her lips against his. He didn’t respond, eyes wide, utterly still. She leaned backwards, "Sorry I uh. I don’t... sorry."

Ned finally breathed again, longs fingers making nervous aborted movements before for one of the first times in his life, he decided to shove all inhibitions into the back of his head. He cupped her face and leaned forward, hesitating for one singular seemingly eternal moment, her eyes wide, lips parted, waiting breathlessly. He took the plunge and their lips met. His fingers were rough as they threaded through her silken hair.

They stayed, locked like that for a few minutes, finally pulling away with swollen lips. Ned licked his, flushing, "I um. I..."

Chuck grinned widely, a carpet of daisies stretching off into the distance, wisps of brown hair fluttering around her cheeks, "C'mon, Ned. I want to show you something." She took his hand in hers and pulled him to his feet, lanky legs unfolding as he straightened to his full true height, shoulders hunching inwards a second later.

Chuck dragged him away as she skipped down the hill with delight. Ned grinned widely, full of something called love, Chuck utterly unaware that she had made the lord of the dead smile in a true genuine way for the first time in a very long time. 


	3. Give me your answer true

Ned blinked in the sunlight, and Chuck turned, comfortable and completely at ease. Ned, if anything, hunched even more, trying to make himself smaller. Chuck took his hand, leading him out into the field of flowers she’d made. He seemed to be very pale in the bright light, he looked not unlike a dark blot in the sunshine.

Chuck hummed, "You need more sun."

He laughed nervously, "I don’t get out much."

Chuck took his hands in hers, "Relax." He smiled softly, shyly, "Okay." He added, "I trust you." Chuck's heart made some sort of ba-bump noise in her chest.

She lit on an idea as they stood there, surrounded with flowering fields and buzzing bees, "May I have this dance?"

He grinned, bowing sweetly, "How could I refuse?"

There was no music, but they didn’t care, swaying in time to something in their heads, his hands on her hips, hers over his shoulders, fingers twining in his hair on the nape of his neck.

Chuck grinned, peering up at him as they slowed, "I had a really good time."

He flushed looking sheepishly at his shoes. It was really too easy to make him do that, "Me too."

"And I... I really  really like you."

He asked quietly, "Do you... do you want to do this again?"

"I’d love that." 

He brightened, his smile blinding her, and Chuck felt her face might split open with the smile on her own face. She felt like she might burst from all these good feelings like a piñata, all the happiness she felt spilling out like candy or birds freed from a cage.

Something darkened Ned’s joy, face falling into thought and a frown, "I do have something I really should tell you. Something important."

Chuck really wanted him to smile again, "You can tell me in a minute." She leaned forward, stretching on her tiptoes. Ned leaned down to meet her lips. They smiled against each other.

The spell was broken when someone shouted, "Get away from her!”

They jumped apart, Ned's head whipping around to stare frantically at the two women advancing angrily. Chuck kept a tight hold of his hand, trying to keep calm in the face of his panic, voice thick with surprise, "Mother! Aunt Vivian!"

Lily pointed an angry finger at Ned, "How dare you kidnap and take advantage of my daughter!"

Vivian cried, "We've been searching for a few days Charlotte! We'd feared the worst had happened after we found that dark pit!" She brushed tears away from her cheeks, "We were so worried after we realized that Hades had kidnapped you!"

Chuck blinked before dissolving into laughter, "Oh nothing like that happened!" She attempted to look contrite in the face of Vivian’s tears and Lily's worried anger, "I wasn’t kidnapped I went down there myself. And I never ran into Hades, thank goodness. I just ran into Ned here. The Pie Maker."

Lily snapped, "Oh, really? Is that what he told you? Ned.  _The Pie Maker._ "

Chuck frowned, "He was making pies when I found him."

Vivian looked so sad and Lily frowned at Ned who’d shrunk inwards. Chuck looked at him when he pulled his hand out of her grasp to hold behind him, staring at the floor, awkward and out of place once again. Lily stepped forward, taking Chuck's hand and pulling her towards her. Chuck resisted, "What? Ned-?”

He hunched, eyes flicking to hers and away as Lily spat, finally pulling her away, "Charlotte.  That’s Hades. " 

Chuck blinked and everything made sense. The tenseness, his shock, what he’d been trying to say to her, how he seemed so sure she was going to run away any minute, how he winced every time she’d called him Ned.

He knew she knew. _She knew_ he knew she knew.

How hadn’t she seen it? The darkness had followed him out into the sunlight, some sort of shadow around him. Death. He hunched under the weight of it and under her betrayed stare, "I’ll just... I’m... I’m sorry. I’ll just go."

She watched him disappear into the forest.

Vivian enveloped her in a hug, "I’m so glad you’re safe now."

Lily ran a hand down her arm, "It’s alright now, Charlotte."

Chuck blinked away tears. Something was so wrong about this.

She remembered his wide eyed awe. The small smiles she’d teased out of him. His curious hesitance. His gentle shyness. The way he’d always asked before going anywhere with her.

Chuck ripped her arm out of her mother's and her aunt's embrace. She turned to face them, "I’m sorry. I love you both _so_ much but you’re  wrong this time."

Lily and Vivian gaped as she turned and ran.

A trail of daisies, white and yellow, blue forget-me-nots, red roses with sharp thorns and vibrant daffodils erupted from the ground as she fled, following the path of her footsteps. The tunnel! Rock was closing up over the entrance, growing like grass, sealing away the path to the underworld from Olympus. Chuck leapt and rolled onto the hard earthen floor as the entrance sealed behind her, skinning her knees.

She huffed, eyes wide against the darkness. She stumbled to her feet, wincing but ignoring it to run forward, "Ned? Ned!"

She heard a shuffle far ahead of her and she ran faster, feet stumbling over the path, rocks slipping underneath her feet, as she saw the tall silhouette finally appear before her, softened by the glow of unearthly gems.

Chuck jumped, flinging herself into his arms, hands digging into his shoulders, he caught her, almost falling with surprise, "Chuck?"

Flowers, daisies, burst out of the rock, ripping through the ground as he gaped, morning glories crawling up the walls, nestling between the gemstones and curling around their legs.

She sniffled feeling his arms supporting her loosely, his bewilderment thick in the air, "Ned, Hades, I don’t care-!" She couldn’t really see him, she unburied her face from his shirt, hands moving up to cup his face. She wished she could see him clearly, to see what he was thinking, all she could feel was his pulse hammering against her fingertips, "I don’t care who you are. You’re one of the kindest, sweetest, most wonderful people I’ve ever met." She could feel him still, breath freezing in his throat, as she spoke, "I think I might love you, and I want to spend more time with you to find out if I definitely do."

His arms relaxed and he spoke quietly, "I think... I think I do too." She heard a nervous chuckle, "I think I love you too."

Exactly three thousand five hundred and forty-five years, two months, one week, three days, seven minutes and twenty-three seconds since Hades had come into existence and regretted it not soon after, he found himself for quite possibly the first time, not regretting it at all.

Ned found himself smiling against Chuck's lips as she stretched upwards to meet him, in the darkness surrounded by flowers and gemstones, both of them utterly content. 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is here: https://ford-ye-fiji.tumblr.com/


End file.
